Guest Info: The Hotels of Lititz, Pa

Lititz has three different hotels that are close to our ceremony and reception sites. It doesn't look like we will be able to get any special deals for blocks of rooms. As of now, all of the hotels have plenty of space for July 11th and 12th, but they will start filling up as next Spring and Summer approach.

The Historic General Sutter Inn is a restaurant and hotel in the center of Lititz, right at the town square. It is about two blocks from the ceremony site. We have had many family members and friends stay here over the years and they always praise the hotel's service and accommodations. They recently refinished and updated their rooms. It is a little more expensive than the other two hotels for a room with two doubles, but they do have smaller rooms that are cheaper. The price difference isn't too drastic, and is worth the extra money in my mind. You can see pictures of each room (they are all unique) on their website.

http://www.generalsutterinn.com/
(there is music on this website that is a little annoying, go to the bottom of the page to turn it off)


The Warwick Inn is about 5 minutes north of town. It is right off of the main road running through Lititz, so it would be easy to get to the ceremony site from the hotel. I visited the hotel last week. It was clean and cozy. The person at the front desk was very helpful and happy to show me around. The rooms look like hotel rooms. Nothing too shocking. They were very clean and in great condition. These rooms would be a little cheaper than the General Sutter on average. We had some relatives visit us last year and they stayed at the Warwick Inn. They were happy with their stay. The Warwick Inn offers discounts for AAA and AARP members

http://www.warwickinnpa.com/index.htm



There is a Holiday Inn Express located 5 minutes south of town. Again, this hotel is right off of the main road that runs through town, so it would be easy to get to the ceremony site from there. It is only a couple of years old. I have not talked to anyone directly who has stayed there, but my mom has heard that it is nice. The prices are about the same as the Warwick Inn's prices. The Holiday Inn offers discounts for AAA and AARP members. They also have an indoor pool.

http://www.hiexpress.com

Guest Info: Airport Recommendations

This is my first of two posts for our wedding guests regarding travel information. For anyone flying in to Lititz, you have three possible airports to choose from:

Harrisburg International Airport is the closest (about 45 minutes away) from Lititz in the town of Harrisburg, Pa.

Philadelphia International Airport is about 1.5 -2 hours away from Lititz, but offers a larger selection of airlines (so possibly cheaper flights).

Baltimore/Washington International Airport is also about about 1.5 - 2 hours away with a larger selection of airlines.

And, on a side note, Lititz actually has it's own airport, The Lancaster Airport, but it's very tiny and only used for very small planes. Flights would probably be much more expensive here, but I'll list it just in case.

I'll post back very shortly with my hotel information and recommendations.

Inspiration Board

A while back, I posted several wedding "inspiration boards" created by other brides-to-be that captured the mood Jesse and I had in mind for our wedding. At the end of the post I mentioned that some day I would probably give in and make my own board. Well, my friend, that day has come!

(click on image to enlarge)

I know, I know, my mood board is gargantuan compared to the earlier ones I wrote about, but we still have so many things to decide on and pick out that I wasn't ready to streamline it just yet. Although we won't have every exact thing from the board at our wedding or reception, I think over all it personifies the mood we're trying to go for - semi-formal, fun, summer-y, a little bit vintage and a little bit modern (but NOT rustic or country). For any upcoming bride, I would definitely recommend creating an inspiration board. From picking flowers, to bridesmaid dresses, to tablecloths, it's helpful to have a visual reference to make sure everything ties in together.

Oh, and the photo of the tandem bike (bottom row, 2nd from L) isn't completely out of place - we actually have access to one (a red one!) and may try to make it our getaway vehicle!

Bridesmaid dresses

Like I promised, here are the actual dresses that I e-mailed to Andrea as bridesmaid dress suggestions. (Click on the image to enlarge)

1st row: jenny yoo, priscilla of boston, david's bridal
2nd row: j.crew, target, j.crew
3rd row: j.crew, simple silhouettes (2), thread design, j.crew

These are all dresses that I really like and seem to fit the semi-formal, summer garden party tone that we're trying to set. They also seem to match Andrea's more demure, classic sense of style much better than the frothy confections from my last post and they're simple enough to hopefully be re-wearable in the future.

She won't actually be picking one of these exact dresses, but finding one on her own that fits a similar style. She may even have her MIL (mother-in-law in bridal blog speak) sew one from a pattern. That's why I put the four color blocks at the bottom, I picked these dresses based on their style rather than color. I'd prefer her to find a dress in one of the four shades of pink (like the ones in the 2nd row, minus the orange dress, or the middle three in the 3rd row). Our colors really aren't "blush and bashful"*, but a range of pinks, peaches, and yellows - I just thought pink would look best with Andrea's coloring and next to my white dress and Jesse's black/dark grey suit in photos. If she despises pink, yellow (like two on top right) is my second choice.

So, let me know what you think, and we'll see how close Andrea's dress looks to any of these ten months from now.

* if you do not know this quote, get thee to your local video store and rent Steel Magnolias immediately!

If I were my own bridesmaid....

.....I would so wear one of these dresses.

dresses l to r: unknown origin, anthropologie, betsey johnson

I'm not even joking. Jesse can attest to the fact that a few articles of clothing in my closet definitely resemble costumes more than every day wear. And with one of these, I could add a "50's party dress", "mod/sailor/pinafore dress" or "dress made for a 5 year old princess" to my growing collection. Wearing "fun" clothes puts me in a good mood all day. And these three dresses would make me feel truly divine.

But, of course, I will not be my own bridesmaid. I've asked my sister, Andrea, to stand beside me and she agreed on the one condition that I not ask her to wear an ugly dress - and I'm pretty sure she would think these were a trio of ugly dresses. Since Andrea will be my only bridesmaid, I decided it would be much easier to give her a few color and style suggestions and let her choose a dress on her own. That way, hopefully, she could find something she'd like enough to wear again or if not, at least find something super cheap.

So, this post is merely a teaser. Over the weekend, I'll post the real dresses that I sent her for color and style suggestions. And I promise you won't find a single ruffled, pinafore-d, or big-bowed number in the bunch. ;)

Hey, mister postman bring me a dream....

I should give you fair warning.....this is a post about stamps. Yep, stamps. A microscopic detail of wedding invitation planning that really shouldn't warrant a blog post. I certainly have never given them much thought before. I knew from working on my sister's invitations that the USPS makes wedding-themed stamps, so I just automatically thought "good enough - done". Until the devil, Martha Stewart, and her extreme obsessive compulsive disorder sunk her teeth into me.


Exhibit A in my defense: a spread from her Spring 2007 issue showing the "art" of arranging stamps on an invitation envelope. The Martha even suggests buying vintage stamps off of eBay to coordinate with your colors if the current offerings don't match. Thankfully, my perfectionism has never reached those sisyphean limits. As much as I love all things vintage, I wasn't even tempted...well, maybe a little, but not enough to start looking or anything.....

Other brides use services like zazzle.com to custom design their own stamps that are actually certified by the USPS. But, that costs extra money and my cheapskate tendencies override my perfectionist tendencies every time.

A month ago, though, all the stars aligned for me. On an otherwise average day, as Jesse tossed me a stack of letters, my eyes immediately darted to the top right corner of the top envelope. There rested a beautiful 1 inch x 1 inch square of perfection. Drum roll please! I give you the post office's crowning achievement - the "Beautiful Blooms" collection!

Yeah, I know, completely not worth the hype. But, they fit the exact fun, summery mood of our wedding and coordinate perfectly with our colors! Jesse can't understand my enthusiasm for a detail so microscopic. I think it's just that this one tiny detail fell into my lap perfectly without me having to lift a finger, whereas the rest of the wedding planning has been so complicated. So, to the dear USPS, who I usually curse, I now salute you. Next, we just have to design our invitations....